Case of false disability claims, payoffs in parking lots
Source: editor@cslea.com
Date: 11/16/2009
It started with anonymous calls to the Employment Development Department's fraud hotline, and on Nov. 9 it ended in a Sacramento federal court with a guilty plea from former EDD employee Audrey Renee Bell, 49, of Pacoima.
According to a news release put out by the U.S. Dept. of Justice, "This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the State of California Employment Development Department (EDD) Investigation Division."
Bell's scam lasted three years and defrauded EDD of $110,000. She would enter false information into EDD's computer system that allowed her friends to collect disability benefits for injuries they never suffered. "After the friends received the checks in the mail," said the news release, "Bell instructed them to cash the checks and meet her in locations such as parking lots and restaurants where Bell took a cut of the fraud proceeds ... In addition, a chiropractor testified that he would meet Bell in a post office parking lot to collect cash from Bell in exchange for having certified her friends as disabled."
"Cases like this highlight the importance CSLEA members are in protecting the integrity of the various agencies throughout state government," said CSLEA President Alan Barcelona. "When we aren't protecting Californians from direct criminal activity, our members are busy protecting the state from criminal activity within. Everyone who works for EDD should know that when our highly effective investigators aren't hunting down workers' comp and unemployment insurance cheats, they're keeping an eye on you."
The full Justice Department release can be read at the link below.
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